Listen to episode 7

Welcome back to episode 7 of the new series Under The Hood from 11:FS and Synapse. In this series, we’re diving deep to uncover the banking infrastructure that is disrupting traditional banking models and shaking up the system to improve the financial lives of millions around the world.

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This week we’re looking at card issuance and examining where the disruption is taking place and how third-party providers are dramatically speeding up and taking the stress out of card issuance. To expand on this topic the co-hosts, Simon Taylor, co-founder of 11:FS, and Sankaet Pathak, founder of Synapse are joined by guests Shaun Puckrin, Chief Product Officer at Global Processing Services, and Edoardo Volta, VP, Head of Fintechs at Mastercard. 

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The discussion begins with an overview of the technology, the players behind the technology, and how they all work together. Then the group focuses on how the process has changed over the last 10 years including the introduction of fintech companies and how that has changed the landscape dramatically. They detail the accelerated timeline for card issuance beginning at 12-18 months several years ago and now it’s as little as 6 weeks to go live with a card issuing product.

“Now that the bank doesn’t have to be the provider of the tech stack that’s just liberated lots of players to get into there and offer these services that we’re used to but in lots of different ways…” 
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-Shaun Puckrin

The group then goes on to talk about the innovation that is happening on the front end and also on the backend from players like Banking as a Service (BaaS) and others. They discuss why cards have become so central to fintech entrepreneurs and why cards have become so flexible. They review the roles and definitions of a program manager and BIN sponsor and how they vary based on how much control the fintech wants to have. They observe that gauging control should stem from what experience you want your customers to have and working backward.

They continue with a discussion about the importance of niche players in the landscape today and make recommendations for how to look for specialized partners. They also discuss prepaid, debit, and credit cards, their definition, and the trends that are expected in the near term. They conclude with an overview of where card issuing is going in the next 5-10 years.